Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers.

Peter Cushing

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

The Gates of Minas Morgul have opened...

"Before them went a great cavalry of horsemen moving like ordered shadows, and at there head was one greater than all the rest: a rider, all in black, save that on his hooded head he wore a helm like a crown that flickered with a perilous light."

Tolkien, The Two Towers

After all the recent conversions and sculpting, it was nice to get back to simple painting. These were a birthday present from my wife nearly six months ago and they are lovely miniatures. They really pack a punch visually, and fit really well with the Morgul and Nazgul aesthetic from the movies.

I used the weathering and corrosion technqiues I'd learned doing the AOS28 and INQ28 stuff to dirty them up and I think the marriage of those weathering techniques to a more realistic paint scheme worked well.

One thing I did do was, when I based them, I added a trail of dead grass where they'd passed. This, I think, was vert in keeping with Tolkien's conception of the Shadow.

Annoyingly, the effect is so sublte that unless someone points it out to you, you don't notice.

Finally, just for fun, I looked to see if they matched the look and feel of the Mouth of Sauron:

Nice, fun little project and it's always lovely to get back to Middle Earth.